In the manufacture of various aircraft engine parts, very complex plasma coating and heat treatment processes must be performed on the parts. For example, in the manufacture of turbines, airfoils, and other components of an aircraft, plasma coating must be performed to exacting standards. In so doing, multiple coating parameters, sometimes in excess of ten or more parameters, must be constantly monitored to ensure that the coating process is being performed within tolerance of the specific recipe required for the application. Any deviation from those tolerances will result in a part which does not meet specification and either must be scrapped or reworked.
Currently, such monitoring of the various process parameters is performed manually. Sensors may be provided to measure the various coating parameters, but a human operator must continually monitor the outputs of those sensors to ensure they are within tolerance. If a fault is detected, i.e. if one of the parameters falls out of tolerance, the human operator must manually stop production, determine the source of the fault, fix the fault, and restart the process. This is accordingly very time consuming and if done repetitively over time, can become tedious and thus lead to human error. Moreover, as the parameters must be monitored constantly, a single human operator can only be responsible for a single coating bay or booth, thus increasing labor requirements of the overall assembly process.